A Year Ago today

Update: I forgot to add his current picture of his leg. This is what it looks like today, yes he sent me this picture from Iraq and was not too thrilled to do so.

This time a year ago we were in the middle of a scary situation. Rob had been bitten by a spider 10 days earlier. He was bitten by a wolf spider on Saturday afternoon; he washed it off and went on. By Wednesday he noticed he had a lump on his leg and called the DR. They said they could not see him and to call back tomorrow. He called back Thursday morning and said he had a golf ball in his leg. They said it was soldiers time and to call back tomorrow. Friday morning he called back again and said he had a baseball in his leg. They said he could not be seen, they had no appointments. After some not so nice words they told him to go to Urgent care. I took him to Urgent care and they drained it and put him on antibiotics. We went back Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and everyday they would re put in a drain tube, add new meds and send him home. By Tuesday morning they said they wanted him to see a different DR. so we went back that afternoon for a second appointment. They sent him to a surgeon. She took one look at his leg and said he needed surgery. What Rob had not told me was it had moved to his abdomen. We instantly drove to the hospital. He was taken in for surgery almost immediately. He came out with a 4 inch incision on his leg and another four inch incision on his stomach (I swear it looked like he had a c-section). He was so upset because this meant he would not be leaving for Warrant school. His boss came by the next morning and he said he would be ready to leave for school a week later. The next morning he was taken in a second time for second clean out surgery. On Friday he was released to come home with a home health nurse. I was a nervous wreck because she was only coming once a day and I would need to do the dressing change the other time. Do you remember the first time I had to change his dressing? When I say dressing that means packing and when you pulled the packing out you could see muscles in his stomach and leg. It was horrible. He almost always refused pain meds. The first time I had to do it I was in tears and could hardly see. Rob kept saying comments to make me relax and instead it was upsetting me more. Finally I shouted at him and then this is what I did. I took a deep breath and put on my rubber gloves and picked up the tweezers, wiped away tears, changed my gloves. Then I said this to him as I was moving closer and closer. My husband bought a boat behind my back, my husband messed up mother’s day. That poor man did not know rather to run or be scared. But I did it and then did it every day for the next thirty. I have to say this brought us closer to each other than anything else could have.
The next month was wonderful. Rob was home the whole time but I could not ask him to do anything. He was allowed to pick up a dinner plate and walk. So I kept the house clean which means I was more relaxed. All he wanted to do was shop because he could be walking around. My husband does not like shopping but we shopped everyday for something.
If you have a week stomach do not scroll down because the pictures are graphic. He has healed great and is currently in Iraq. He made it to Warrant School a few months later and passed. He says his leg is still not back to normal but it looks great and he is able to keep up with everyone else.
I just realized that I forgot to say that staph had set in and that was what they could not get under control.

How my soldier lives

This is how my soldier lives daily. He has his own room. He says the food is decent or at least the salad is. He said he had a T Bone steak with only one bone and would not encourage anyone else to eat it. He has internet at work that is SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. He is doing okay.

Rob's Graduaton

Graduation was wonderful.
We woke up Thursday, loaded the van and hit the road. Well after a stop for mountain dew. Can you believe I did not have any in the house. Van was loaded, had new tires, new battery and a oil change. I was a nervous wreck. The kids did great.We listened to a book on CD and watched national geographic. We made it in a there in under 5 hours with only one stop.
We checked into our room and waited on daddy. By this time Grace thought we were at Fort Ragg and was excited. My kids love to stay in hotels because there can watch Animal Planet Daddy finally came over for a visit. Once he was there all was right with the world. We got dressed for the reception. I had to giggle that there were men standing in the parking lot trying to tie each others ties. I was able to sneak in a little smooch before the reception which Michael hated I Did not take my camera in, you will have to ask Rob why. The girls were excited to go to daycare. We made it through the reception with Michael. I felt bad for him because I know he was bored. He did great in the reception line. Almost everyone asked him if he was going high school to flight school and he would say "NO, I am not going in the army". They were not thrilled with his decision. After the reception we picked up the girls, who were not thrilled to have to leave daycare. We went to dinner and then back to the hotel. Watched a little more animal planet and then AWWWWWWWWW so wonderful to be able to have help getting everyone ready for bed. Even better than that was having a warm body to sleep next too.
The men were told to be back at formation at 5:30am and if they were late to not show up. So Rob was there at 4:30am. The kids and I slept in, watched a little more animal planet and had breakfast. Then everyone got a shower in the worlds smallest shower (but more about that later). Then we headed to graduation. I have to tell you I was almost in tears, okay totally in tears at the new people who came to his graduation. The first was another warrant officer from here who helped Rob put in his packet. The other was a man who was deployed with Rob on his last trip to Iraq. I can not believe that these men would take off work and drive 3.5-5 hours to come to Rob's graduation. I feel so blessed for them being there. After Graduation we went to lunch and then got on the road. The drive home was horrible, we hit horrible rain and then traffic. The only good part was that when we got past the rain Rob called me to say I did a great job and that was the best gift anyone has given me. We got home about 8pm and literally put the kids to bed. We spent all Saturday doing nothing. Well really Rob washed the vehicles in the rain and updated the computers. Today we went to church and came home for naps and to relax. Rob goes back to work tomorrow and I guess life will get back to normal for a few weeks. I miss him already.


















Once Grace got ahold of Rob she was not going to let him go.

How to tell your Soldier is home

Dirty house because you stopped cleaning when he came home
cell phone and home phones are dead from not being charged
you have eaten real meals, like a real steak instead of $2 steaks
toilet is fixed
vehicles are washed
there is dirty underwear in the bathroom floor.

day 9

Woo, I am setting. I actually took a moment or a couple this evening. This is how my day went

Woke up, straightened up, got kids dressed, nurse came, took faith and hope to VBS, went to chick fil a for breakfast, took rob to dr, dropped rob and grace off at home, went to pick up girls, took them to lunch, went to piano (oops the piano teacher forgot to be home), came home crashed for a hour (while faith read to us and michael re wrote his school work), took girls and rob to library in next town, came home, rob took Michael to boy scouts, I relaxed for a hour. Made home made pizzas for dinner, gave girls baths and got them in bed (still not asleep and it is almost 10pm), cleaned up kitchen, decided to go ahead and make bread for tomorrow and cookies as a thank you for the VBS workers and for the friend whose house faith and hope are going to tomorrow, so I have bread in the bread machine cooking, the second tray of cookies baking, I will make at least 4 more trays before bed, so I am up for at least another hour (ouch, I meant to be in bed early). Ooh and I have clothes In the washer that I have to put in the dryer for tomorrow (I hope I do not forget), okay if I am going to be up then I will definitely go ahead and straighten the hallway and bathroom and our room. That way I will not have to worry about it in the morning. I also need to change Roberts dressings tonight. His wounds are looking so much better. There is no where near as many layers. Actually as of this morning we are not technically packing his stomach, we are just putting a wet 2*2 in it. We will see what the surgeon says tomorrow.

10pm, girls are still awake; Michael is on his way to bed, third tray of cookies in oven. Cookies taste so yummy.

Tomorrow our day looks like this

Wake up, finish any straightening I did not get done tonight, take girls to VBS, take rob to surgeon, come home and hopefully get that laundry put away, pick up girls at 4pm and then make dinner and go to church. Come home and change dressing and get kids in bed and collapse. Probably eat several more cookies No really I am sure there is something else going on tomorrow that I am forgetting

day 4, a crazy awesome wonderful day

Oh my funny, crazy day. I am beginning to think I have a weird life. Do things like this happen to anyone else? I woke up and did a run through of the house, which means made sure every room but the office was cleaned before home health. Made home made strawberry muffins. I actually made 4 dozen and froze a bunch. Home health came and left. I got dressed and then noticed that the top of my underwear was bothering me. Keep reading this is not rude. So I feel and there is something. So I look, you will never believe what I found. There was a fish hook and line attached to the top. The only thing I can think of, is that it was in someone’s pocket and it attached during washing. So rob decided we should go to target for new things for me, did I mention there was a hole in my sock. So we go to target and then we go wash Rob’s truck, where I totally freak out because I got it off track coming out of the wash and then it stalled on me. After I calmed down and vacuumed out his truck, we headed to Bridge Street to walk around. My awesome daughters convinced daddy to take them into the chocolate crocodile. As we were leaving I ran into the rest room and within a minute the lights went out. I wish there had been a camera to watch me try to find a light switch with my cell phone. It must have been using a motion sensor because it came back on. We came home and relaxed. Luckily we had no problems when we went to family Christian bookstore. Rob had never been there. I of course forgot the reason I went in and did not get the new Chandra Pierce DVD.

Michael has been struggling with some things. So a couple of weeks ago when I realized he had cut himself out of pictures I totally freaked out thinking he was thinking of hurting himself, we have had tons of talks about this and each time he looked at me like he was a alien. So tonight I was cleaning up my office and found one of my scrapbooks in there and opened it up and guess what I found, all the pictures of Michael that he had cut out. He was not cutting himself out of our lives. He had just started the scrapbook that I had not started with him when I said I would.

Okay one more thing. The nurse brought this special no hurt tape today that we have been waiting on for a couple of days. Earlier he said it was coming loose. Then about 20 minutes ago he came into the office and said I needed to fix it. So I start changing his packing and look at his face and realize he had not had a chance to take his pain meds. He did great but I do not recommend him trying it without pain meds again.

Over all it has been a great day, I am really enjoying having Rob around with us. And Rob understands why I want to get out of the house when he gets home and I understand why he wants to send me by myself. We do not have any big plans for tomorrow. A friend’s kids are coming over tomorrow evening but we will probably just eat hot dogs and relax. She in return is keeping our girls Saturday night.
Did you know tomorrow is national doughnut day at krispy kreme.

Day 1 of a month off work

Today has been a good day. A busy day but a good day. We woke up and waited around for home health to call. She finally got here around 9am. She said I was doing well on robs wound care. She also said she thinks that home health should come out twice a day. The funny part about that is that before she got here I asked Rob if he just wanted me to do it because it was taking her longer than we thought and I was worried about his meds would wear off. Is that not too funny that I volunteered! Please know that I completely do not enjoy doing this. But I did not want him to be in more pain than necessary. So when she left I asked Rob would if he wanted them to come twice a day and he said No, he really would like me to do it. That made my day.
After she left we went to CID (crime investigation division) to turn in paperwork for the home health nurses to be allowed on post. Then we went to his work and turned in paper work. They were nice and I can tell they are trying to help him get a new school date. When we left his work we went to game stop so he could get a new Wii fishing game to keep him busy. Then we went to target and then stopped at Wal-Mart. Michael broke our microwave plate and we are trying to find a new one. Then we came home and rested. Then the girls and I went to hula class. I have to admit I am really enjoying the class. We came home and let the kids play in the sprinkler while Rob grilled Steak for dinner. By that time it was time for evening chores and now everyone is in bed. I have about 15 minutes before it is time for Robs evening dressing change. I do not think we have any plans for tomorrow. I need to make a couple follow up appointments for Rob and then I may take the bigger kids to the pool tomorrow while Grace takes a nap. I do have to get caught up on laundry and keep the house straight

Update pictures

I took a picture of Rob's stomach today. I have to be honest and say I am nervous because he it looks like it has closed up alot during the day. I mean the outside looks like it has closed and that is not good. Rob said his stomach is very sore tonight but not right by the incision. He admitts he probably overly did it today. I added to the picture to the previous post that is marked graphic. Just scroll down and you will find it, I think it was last Saturday or Sunday. I also am trying to twitter about all that is going on with life, not just Rob. It is kinda fun because I can be in the other room and Rob gets the twitter on his phone and laughs or writes back. I just wish you could see all that he writes back.

The perfect Sunday

Today has been a good day so far. I woke up and layed in bed talking to Rob. Then I did a quick run through of the house. The nurse came and changed Rob's dressing, she said I did a good job. I was worried that I had not packed it up deep enough. It was so neat because Grace stood at our door and watched what the nurse was doing and then when she was done Grace came in and listened to his heart. I think that was great because she has not been herself the last couple of days and I really think it is because there have been so many changes recently. After the nurse left the girls and I went to church. I called Rob on the way home to check on him. He said he was just setting down. He had been in the backyard putting the dog in the pin so Michael could mow the grass. I was furious to say the least because he is a big dog and he jumps. We had already discussed me putting the dog up. It is funny because I have to be cautious that I am not treating Rob like a child. But on the other hand I have to make sure he is not going to hurt himself. We had subs for lunch and then everyone layed down. It was wonderful, Rob and I layed on the couch and he slept. It has been a long time since we have done this together. When Rob woke up we went outside and I planted our tomato plants. They are on the front porch so we can all watch them grow. A friend called me from KY today, it was so nice to hear from her. And so nice to know that people are praying for Robert. He is such a strong man and it kills me to see him not being able to do everything he loves. I think the nurse broke his heart today. She told him that he could NOT go fishing, because when you flip your arm it uses your stomach muscles. I felt bad for him. He is out walking again with Michael now. I am hoping this time together will bring them closer. I will be turning in his paperwork to his work tomorrow so they can put him off for the first 30 days. Please pray that this goes smoothly.The girls and I are going back to church tonight. They are so excited because they will be practicing for a musical. They always practiced on Sunday nights at out old church and we did Awana's on Wednesdays so they always missed out. That is not a complaint, our old churched offered great things for the kids, I just wanted them in Awanas. R

Rob 10pm update

I wish I had some of those cute pictures I had to show you. Rob is hopefully resting now. We left him after pain meds and something to help him not be sick. The surgeon spoke to me in great detail after surgery and said that it is staph and It has been there a long time. The goal is to go back in tomorrow at 11:30am and put him to sleep and re do the clean out process to make sure they got it all. If they did , then we start the recovery and healing process. If they did not they will take him back to the OR a third day. She said infectious control has been called and will help decide what to do next.

Robert does not know this but she also told me that once she can tell he is healing and sends him home he will still be on antibiotics through a IV for three weeks. He now knows he will not be going to school and is not happy about this. I truly beIieve that God put us in Huntsville for a reason. And if we need to stay here longer than planned than we will. If this means we will not be able to move to Fort Knox this fall I will be sad but again I know that there is a reason. This is very hard on Rob because he has worked very hard for this promotion and deserves it more than anyone I know. He will still be able to go to school but not now. Please pray for his understanding of this. Please pray for healing, and that he would allow himself to do this slowly. He was telling me tonight that he heals quickly and he will be better soon. I pray he does not rush this process.

My friend has the girls until at least tomorrow night and Michael is with me. Please pray for the friend who is keeping my girls. She is a wonderful lady but she has several blessings of her own and is growing a new blessing.

I will be updating through Twitter tomorrow which is on our blog as I can tomorrow. And if I can figure out how to get the pictures off my phone I would love to show pictures of Rob in pre-op.

Monday update

We went back to Urgent Care this morning. We were not there long. I took the girls in with me for first time. I took school work and honestly it was not bad. They said it is not looking better so they gave him a new script. it is something he is already on but a higher dose. they also told him to continue with his second antibiotic at home plus they gave him his FOURTH Rocephin (I have no clue how to spell that). The new plan is to keep it wrapped tightly with a ace bandage, keep the drain in. apply heat to help pull everything out. they were able to get alot of yuck today. he will go back again in the morning to have the same thing done. they did talk to indectious control today. He was on doxycycline(vibramycin) 100mg 2x daily and co-trimoxazole (septra) ds 160/800 2x daily, plus the shot they give him daily. as of today they have him taking sulfmeth/trimeth DS (bactrim 800/160mg) 2 pills 2x daily and doxycycline. plus he is taking loratab for pain. I will update again in the morning. He did take another picture today and I may try to post it later. To me it looks worse today because all the bruises have come out.